Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a technology which allows for simultaneous voice and data traffic to coexist over a communication channel comprising a standard telephone transmission line. Typically, the standard telephone transmission line comprises an unshielded twisted-pair of copper wire having a gage of 22–26 AWG. Twisted pairs, which can be used to connect a central telephone system to a subscriber's telephone system can support bandwidths up to 2 MHz through the use of digital signal processing (DSP) technology. Thus, they can be used for bandwidth-intensive applications, such as Internet access and video-on demand, as well as for carrying voice traffic. Frequency division multiplexing is used so that the plurality of signals, each occupying a different frequency band, can be simultaneously sent over the same transmission line.
Because there are different varieties of digital subscriber line technology, it is sometimes generally referred to as XDSL wherein the “X” refers to a specific DSL standard such as HDSL for high bit rate digital subscriber line or RADSL for rate adaptive digital subscriber line, etc. As the name implies, ADSL is asymmetric in that the data transmission rates differ in the upstream and downstream direction. In the context of a phone system, the downstream direction is defined as transmissions from the central office to a remote location that may be an end user such as a residence or business. The reverse signal corresponds to transmissions in an upstream direction, i.e., from the remote location to the central office. ADSL data traffic bandwidth for CAP (carrier-less amplitude and phase) modulation is typically from about 35 kHz to 1.5 MHz. The bandwidth for ADSL data traffic using DMT (discreet multi-tone modulation) is from approximately 25 kHz to 1.5 MHz. A hybrid circuit is typically used in DSL systems to separate the upstream (transmit) and downstream (receive) signals on the twisted-pair transmission line.
Referring now to FIG. 1 there is shown an example of a typical analog front end of an ADSL remote unit (ATU-R). The hybrid circuitry 2 separates the signals received on the two-wire transmission line 4 into respective upstream and downstream communication channels. The upstream communication channel occupies a bandwidth from about 30 kHz to 138 kHz as represented by the band pass filter 6. The downstream communication channel occupies a bandwidth from approximately 170 kHz and upward as represented by the high pass filter 8. In such cases, the upstream and downstream frequency arranges are only separated by 32 kHz. Accordingly, it is very important that the impedance of the hybrid 2 matches the impedance of the transmission line 4 to prevent reflections which can significantly degrade performance, particularly in the downstream direction. This can occur when high upstream signal power in the 138 kHz range is reflected back through a poor hybrid match of the transmission line into the downstream path thereby interfering with downstream signal recovery. Current ADSL modem implementations use only one impedance value for the hybrid circuit 2 which is specifically tuned to a characteristic line impedance of 100 ohms.
As a practical matter, however, the impedance of the transmission line is rarely 100 ohms due to line conditions such as bridge taps. A bridge tap is a non-terminated copper pair cable connected in parallel to the subscriber line. While a bridge tap has no effect on POTS service, it can significantly alter the impedance of the transmission line thereby creating an impedance mismatch with existing ADSL modem hybrids.
Thus, there exists a need for an XDSL system having improved impedance circuitry or impedance matching circuitry which better matches the particular subscriber transmission line impedance.